Dr Sowmiya MoorthieAcademic

Biography

Dr Sowmiya Moorthie is a Senior Strategic Evidence Manager within the Evidence and Implementation Department at Cancer Research UK. She leads work on horizon scanning and impact assessment of new cancer innovations aimed at early detection and diagnosis. Before joining Cancer Research UK, she worked as a senior policy analyst at a health policy think tank and in academia, including at the PHG Foundation in Cambridge and as a research associate at Cambridge Public Health. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a Master's in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has argued publicly that current NICE referral criteria miss large numbers of women under 50 at higher risk of breast cancer, and that any move towards personalised risk-stratified screening must be both accessible and equitable.

References

1. 1.Dr Sowmiya Moorthie – UK National Screening Committee blog — Current role title (Senior Strategic Evidence Manager, Evidence and Implementation Department, Cancer Research UK), remit (horizon scanning and impact assessment of cancer innovations for early detection), and prior background as senior policy analyst at a health policy think tank and in academia.
2. 2.NICE referral criteria miss up to 95% of women under 50 who go on to develop breast cancer within 10 years – EurekAlert — Evidence of press quotation in health coverage; her stated position on risk-stratified breast cancer identification and equity.
3. 3.Dr Sowmiya Moorthie – Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy network profile — PhD from University of Cambridge, Master's in Epidemiology from LSHTM, prior work on polygenic scores and PHG Foundation projects, associate editor of Journal of Community Genetics, research associate at Cambridge Public Health.
4. 4.Proactive breast cancer risk assessment in primary care – British Journal of Cancer (2023) — Peer-reviewed publication co-authorship, confirms academic affiliation and expertise in cancer risk assessment and screening.

Expertise

Cited on

• Cancer

Stated areas of expertise

• Cancer early detection and diagnosis
• Horizon scanning for cancer innovations
• Risk-stratified screening
• Polygenic scores in healthcare
• Multi-cancer early detection tests
• Population health evidence

Notable achievements

• Co-authored analysis for the UK National Screening Committee blog on multi-cancer earlier detection tests and their implications for screening programmes (August 2024). Source ↗
• Co-authored peer-reviewed paper in the British Journal of Cancer on proactive breast cancer risk assessment in primary care, examining principles of screening (2023). Source ↗
• Quoted in press coverage of research showing NICE referral criteria miss up to 95% of women under 50 who go on to develop breast cancer within 10 years, calling for more personalised and equitable risk identification. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “Using AI to assist in reading mammograms can be more efficient, but there's a concern that it can lead to missing some cancers. This study helps to address concerns, but the results are from a single centre, so more research will be needed to know for sure if this will help save lives.”

  Senior strategic evidence manager at Cancer Research UK · Cancer · 27 Aug 2026 · AI use in breast cancer screening cuts rate of later diagnosis by 12%, study finds ↗

• “Any changes must be accessible and equitable, taking into consideration the anxiety that extra referrals might cause for women”

  from the charity Cancer Research UK · Cancer · 10 Aug 2026 · Breast cancer checks missing most women under 50 who are at risk, says study ↗

Source references

1. AI use in breast cancer screening cuts rate of later diagnosis by 12%, study findstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. Breast cancer checks missing most women under 50 who are at risk, says studybbc.co.uk · 10 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://nationalscreening.blog.gov.uk/author/dr-sowmiya-moorthie/
• Websitehttps://arc-eoe.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/people/researchers/sowmiya-moorthie
• Websitehttps://www.csap.cam.ac.uk/network/sowmiya-moorthie/

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.